October 28, 2020 - In The Netherlands, 30km/h will be the norm on all streets in built-up areas. On Tuesday, 27 October 2020, a majority in the House of Representatives approved a plan to introduce a standard limit of 30km/h in built-up areas, instead of 50km/h being currently the norm. The objective is to reduce road casualties, specifically in areas with schools and strong concentration of children.

“This is a very strong signal sent in The Netherlands that road safety must be prioritised over speed in built-up areas, even more in areas with a dense concentration of pedestrians and cyclists. We hope to see similar measures arising in Europe.”

A pedestrian or cyclist being hit by a car at 50 km/h will lead to a fatality in 20% of cases, this falls to just 3% at 30 km/h; a near seven-fold reduction. This is a major road safety measure that will help the Netherlands protect its cyclists and pedestrians. We think that 30 km/h should be default for urban areas in all Europe and we would congratulate the Netherlands on being at the forefront of introducing road safety measures. The UN Stockholm Declaration this January called on countries to “mandate a maximum road travel speed of 30 km/h in areas where vulnerable road users and vehicles mix” and the Netherlands is now showing the way.” 

“This is really good news for cyclists and pedestrians in Holland. Not only is it much safer – less deadly accidents will happen – it is also less noisy and better for the environment. According to our opinion the streets should be owned by pedestrians and cyclists, not so much by cars and this is a good step forward to get there! We are actually very proud that years of advocacy led to this result.”